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Representation of Religion and Nationalism in the Select Novels Of www.ijcrt.org © 2021 IJCRT | Volume 9, Issue 1 January 2021 | ISSN: 2320-2882 Representation of Religion and Nationalism in the Select novels of Tahmima Anam. Rofiqul Islam Teaching at Asleha Girls' College Research Scholar Vidyasagar University ABSTRACT This paper explores how the conflicts between nationalism and religion during and after the Bangladesh LiberationWar(1971) play a dominant role among the people of Bangladesh and how they navigate their ways of life after civil war. War always brings countless harms, deaths and destruction, even in nation-building. Accordingly,Bangladeshi women to a large extent became victims of subjugation, repression and rape because of their ethnic, lingual and cultural background. The 1971 Liberation war was fought under the banner of Bengali nationalism that outlined Bengali ethnicity, language and culture. East Pakistan claimed to be a new secular country but after the war being influenced by the political tricks a large number of Bangladeshi people took shelter to extreme dogmatism which led to a catastrophe of a country or nation. Key Words: Religion, War, Nationalism, Independence, Identity. After 9/11 there is an increasing flood of xenophobia in the form of Islamophobia propagating around the world considering Muslims as either liberal or radical. It is mostly since then that the category of good Muslims and bad Muslims came into existence. As a young novelist TahmimaAnam had tried to explore the rise of Islamic radicalism in lieu of liberal secularism through the intimate lens of Haque family at the backdrop of war of independence from Pakistan in 1971 maintaining her diasporic identity crisis.While A Golden Age (2007) narrates the war from the experiences of the widowed matriarch Rehana, The Good Muslim IJCRT2101201 International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT) www.ijcrt.org 1669 www.ijcrt.org © 2021 IJCRT | Volume 9, Issue 1 January 2021 | ISSN: 2320-2882 (2011) focusses on the aftermath of Bangladeshi war of independence. In The Golden Age, Rehana Haque struggles through the Bangladesh Liberation War because both of her children were deeply involved with the war efforts being titillated by the spunk of nationalism. Bangladeshi War of Independence broke out under the leadership of Mujeeb-ur-Rehman against West Pakistan despite of being a Muslim country which indicates that this was not a war of religion or against religion but unfortunately after the war some people responded towards extreme fundamentalism. The Bangladeshi War of Independence was basically about ethnic minority fighting against the majority. It was basically Bengali nationalism as Bengali were opressed in terms of not being permitted to speak in Bengali, to wear as they wish and they had no freedom in their expression of culture and identity. In such a situation, Rehana struggles to keep her children safe but she has to witness a heart-rending dilemma. The novel shows her unprecedented courage, determination, love and duty towards her children Maya and Sohail. Because of increasing influence of Tablighi Jamat, an Islamic movement across the country Sohail's involvement in the MuktiBahini (the East Pakistan guerrilla) is wiped off and he profoundly turns to religious extremism as disclosed in the second novel of Bengal trilogy while Maya who also took part in MuktiBahini remains unchanged. So here women remain unchanged while male counterpart stoops to extreme dogmatism but unfortunately enough, women were treated badly during and after the War. Even, sari , a form of female everyday clothing worn by Bengali women was considered morally and religiously improper and Pakistani women were advised against wearing it. This prejudice paves a way towards erasure of Bengali identity in the new Pakistani Consciousness. During the war, Bengali women were rape-victims who were either raped by enemy soldiers or gang-raped by soldiers in the camp where they were kept as captive for many days. These rape-victim women were living a miserable life with no future and no place to go as they were abandoned by their families. Maya consoled those women and had performed many abortions while Sohail who is now a devout Muslim is not concerned with the rape-victims of Bengal. But sexual violation is regarded as serious sexual crime in Islam. An incident during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) would form the basis of later jurisprudence of rape. When a woman went out for prayer at dawn, a man attacked her on the way and raped her. She shouted but the rapist escaped. When another man came by, she complained: “That man did such and such to me.” And when a company of the Emigrants came by, she said: “That man did such and such to me. They went and seized the man whom they thought had raped her and IJCRT2101201 International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT) www.ijcrt.org 1670 www.ijcrt.org © 2021 IJCRT | Volume 9, Issue 1 January 2021 | ISSN: 2320-2882 brought him to her. She said:“Yes, this is the man.” Then they brought him to the Messenger of God. When he (the Prophet) was about to pass sentence, the man who (actually) had raped her stood up and said: “Messenger of God I am the man who did it to her.” He (the Prophet) said to her: “Go away, for God has forgiven you.”But he told the man some good words [Abū Dāwūd said: meaning the man who was seized], and of the man who had had intercourse with her, he said: “Stone him to death." So it's total hypocrisy in the name of a religion as shown in the character of Sohail. Infact, it's because of Sohail who is outwardly religious and because of not having concern towards his six years old son, Zaid he becomes totally wild, loitering here and there, even stealing people's money. Sohail did not care neither about his wife Silvi, whom he loved so much in his youth nor for his ailing mother, Rehana. It indicates that Sohail is definitely far from the shadow of nationalism but he is also definitely not able to reach the luminous halo of Islam. Indeed, he was fallen deeply in the quagmire of religious extremism, fanaticism and extreme political fundamentalism. Itwas not religion, but politics in the name of religion where Sohail was trapped profoundly . Admittedly we must say that the novels also shed light on how Muslims around the world whoare serving humanity, are judged on the basis of merely race, religion and ethnicity, the result of which is the Muslim community after 9/11 has to face arising tide of identity crisis in the form of Islamophobia. Tahmima Anam's select novels namely A Golden Age (2007) and The Good Muslim (2011) are primarily set at the backdrop of Bangladesh Liberation War. In order understand the novels historically let us go through the history of Bangladesh during civil war, setting of the novels. In the partition of 1947, the British India was divided into two independent dominion states, India and Pakistan. Pakistan was formed with the religion of Islam as the core cause of its foundation, while India was established with the majority of Hindus. Pakistan had two parts- East and West, which were separated by about 1200 miles. Due to physical remoteness, political and cultural polarity and discrimination in economy and powers, East Pakistani started protesting against West Pakistan which eventually caused the eruption of the civil war in the year 1971. Both East and West Pakistan remained united merely because of their religious identity. Indeed, religious sentiment has always been present, otherwise what was East Pakistan could have merged with Hindu Indian state of West Bengal, where the same language is spoken. So, it was not for the cause of only Bengali nationalism but it was in the name of religion. But ultimately the cause of religion became hazy and the cause of politics and power spoke predominantly. This eventually made the people of East Pakistan infuriated and rebellious. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of Awami League in East Pakistan explicitly demanded more economic and political powers. It was definitely IJCRT2101201 International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts (IJCRT) www.ijcrt.org 1671 www.ijcrt.org © 2021 IJCRT | Volume 9, Issue 1 January 2021 | ISSN: 2320-2882 politics of Awami League who used the sentiment of nationalism, the righteous status of Bengali language in Bangladeshi soil. Incidentally a horrible cyclone hit East Pakistan in 1970. It was called Bhola Cyclone. It killed about 500,000 people and many more people became homeless. At this crucial juncture, the government was not concerned to alleviate the extreme miserable conditions wrought by the cyclone which resulted in the ignition of a civil war. A Golden Age was published in 2007 in the United Kingdom by Canongate Books as the first novel of the trilogy. It tells the condition of Bangladesh during Bangladesh Liberation War through the eyes of one family. The novel was awarded the prize for Best First Book in the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2008.It was shortlisted for the 2007 Guardian First Book Award.In this novel, the major character Rehana Haque along with her son Sohail and daughter Maya witness the turbulent time of uncertainty and terror and how the (west) Pakistani administration carried our its brutality on the Bengali speaking people in Bangladesh. It was at this crucial condition, Bangladeshi war of independence under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman broke out. In such a situation, Rehana struggles to keep her children safe and she faces a heart-breaking dilemma. It is pathetic for a widow mother to leave her children for the sake of a nation.Anam finely reveals the status of women during Bangladesh Liberation War in a male dominated society and their struggle against various misogynistic norms as portrayed through the central character Rehana Haque.
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